The Courtship of Tendou Kasumi Spamfic
by Ambulatory Kettle
Summary: The spamfic that was eventually expanded into "The Courtship of Tendou Kasumi" due to "popular demand" on the FFML.


Disclaimer: Not for commercial use. The characters in this fan fiction work are used without permission, as I do not own the rights to Ranma 1/2. But I do own quite a few Ranma DVDs and manga... does that count?

**The Courtship of Tendou Kasumi**  
A Ranma 1/2 shortfic  
written by Ambulatory Kettle

Kasumi watched the steam rise from her cup of tea. After a moment, her eye refocused on the face reflected there, green cast in the hot liquid. Even accounting for the unflattering coloration, the face looked entirely unremarkable to her.

Mother had been beautiful. People frequently told Kasumi that she was beautiful, that she resembled her mother, but it was mostly old women and friends of the family. Besides her father and a few doting grandfatherly-types, only one man had ever told her she was beautiful.

Kasumi looked up to meet his anxious gaze, and smiled at him. Toufuu smiled back, somewhat crookedly. Uncle Saotome had grabbed a broom and excused himself with a polite panda-grunt some time ago, and Ranma and Akane were long since gone, but Toufuu still glanced nervously at the door as he sat stiff-backed in a chair across from her. Overall though, he had largely calmed down.

She often wished for the day when he would finally be able to feel comfortable being in the same room with other people when she was around. Just before she and Ranma left, Akane had confided that Toufuu didn't act nearly so ridiculous when Kasumi herself wasn't around, as if trying to let slip a hint. Kasumi hadn't bothered to correct her sister's misunderstanding of the situation.

Perhaps there was some part of Toufuu that still thought of Kasumi as the seventeen-year-old girl he had started shyly courting two years before. He was almost ten years older than her, and a doctor; he couldn't afford to have people think he was chasing after high school girls. He had never mentioned this, but Kasumi had understood all the same.

But there must have been some part of him that realized she wasn't a school-girl any longer. Otherwise...

"Sensei... I've been thinking about... what you asked me last time I visited you," she said. She realized that he wasn't the only one whose view had been slow to change; even now, she still called him "sensei."

Toufuu's muscles slackened visibly into what definitely wasn't a posture of relaxation. "Y-... yes...?"

"I..." Kasumi began, but then stopped. She looked down again at her rapidly cooling tea, gathering her thoughts. "I... can't."

Toufuu slumped down further into his chair. "Oh." His response was small, far away.

"I'm not saying no," Kasumi was quick to add. She glanced away, fixing her gaze on the wall. "I'm just saying... I can't right now. My family needs me too much. You... understand, right?"

Toufuu straightened up. "So... you're saying... what are you saying?"

Kasumi took a sip of her tea. "I suppose I'm saying... not right now."

"But... later?" Toufuu leaned forward slightly in his seat. "What about later?"

His eagerness made Kasumi want to laugh and cry at the same time. "I... don't know. These new guests make even more work around the house. There's... no way I could leave my family. Not now."

"Not now," Toufuu repeated, downcast. "But... maybe someday?" he asked, his voice turning hopeful. He would not be easily discouraged, she could see by the look in his eyes. It lifted her heart to know she meant that much to him, but it saddened her to know she had to disappoint him.

"Not... any time soon. It could be years, but... maybe someday. Yes."

Toufuu sat up, a glow of elation filling his eyes. "So... so it's a 'yes' then?"

Kasumi smiled shyly, and felt that she must be blushing. "It's a... 'yes-but-not-right-now'..."

Toufuu's face lit up. He looked at his skeleton, Betty-chan. "She said yes!"

Jumping to his feet he whisked the skeleton from its stand and danced it around the room. "She said yes, she said yes, she said yes!"

Unable to help herself, Kasumi laughed. She was as delighted by his reaction as he obviously was by her answer.

"She said YES!" Toufuu sang, hitching Betty-chan up on his back and loping for the door. Kasumi dashed after him, her face burning in a strange and wonderful mix of joy and embarrassment at her joy.

She watched as Toufuu jogged off down the road with the skeleton riding on his back, and realized that time was no object to Toufuu. He would wait for her for as long as was needed.

As Betty-chan's flapping arms waved farewell, Kasumi smiled, blinking away moister from her eyes.

"We'll meet again soon," she whispered into the empty street.

_Fin._


End file.
